(1) Simile
Used: It is that figure of speech which is used to compare two essentially unlike things by using 'as'
or 'like'.
Example: My love is like a blue sky.
(2) Personification
Used: That figure of speech which is used when a writer wants to give a human trait to inanimate
objects.
Example: The weather was so nice, I could see the leaving waving in the wind.
(3) Metaphor
Used: Metaphor is used in comparing two unlike objects or things, which may have some common
qualities.
Example: You are the apple of my eye.
(4) Hyperbole
Used: The figure of speech used to exaggerate something.
Example: The whole wide world pointed fingers at me.
(5) Onomatopoeia
Used: This figure of speech imitates the sounds produced by the objects or actions.
Example: I could hear the buzzing of bees all over the yard.
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(1) Oxymoron
Meaning : A figure of speech in which two contradictory terms appear in conjunction to define a
situation, object or event
Usage : terms like 'Civil War' ; 'Living Death'
(2) Metonymy
Meaning : A figure of speech in which one word is replaced with a word which is closely related to
that word.
Usage : Using the words 'Suits' for 'Bankers' ; 'Crown' for 'royalty'.
Example : The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military
force.)
(3) Synecdoche
Meaning : It is that part of speech where a part of something represents the whole of something.
Usage : 'bread' is referred to Food/Money/Earning
Example : Poetry is my bread and butter. (Bread refers food or money)
(4) Irony
Meaning : The figure of speech when used or used to negate what has been just said.
Usage : The Titanic was promoted as being 100% unsinkable; but, in 1912 the ship sank on its
maiden voyage.
(5) Alliteration
Meaning : Figure of speech in which that involves using words that begin with the same sound. It is
basically used in poetry.
Usage : Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
(1) Adjunction
Meaning : Adjunction refers to that figure of speech in which a word, phrase or clause is placed at
the beginning or the end of a sentence.
Example : Dinner will be ready, I am sure, by 6pm.
(2) Pun
Meaning : This uses wordplay uses different senses of the word or different sounds that make up
the word, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.
Example : "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass." -
Douglas Adams
The phrase uses the homophonic qualities of "tune a" and "tuna".
(3) Allegory
Meaning : Allegory is a purposely and proper extension of metaphor in which abstract ideas and
principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events. It may take the form of a fable;
a parable, as in the Bible; or a whole book, or even a morality play
Example: 'Animal farm' by George Orwell is an allegory that uses animals on a farm to describe
the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Communist Revolution of Russia
before WW I.
'I feel like a dog today. I rolled out of my basket and munched on some biscuit-like cereal.
Scratching as I got on the train, I sniffed a passing female.'
(4) Euphemism
Meaning : Euphemism is that figure of speech in which words are used to soften the message.
Example: The word 'Passed away' is used for the word 'died'.
(5) Apostrophe
Meaning : The figure of speech when a character in a literary work speaks to an object, an idea, or
someone who doesn't exist as if it is a living person. This is done to produce a dramatic effect and
to show the importance of the object or idea. In literary pieces, this figure of speech usually starts
with an exclamation 'O'.
Example : Oh, rose, how sweet you smell and how bright you look!
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